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Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Don Can't Study


Quiet would be nice. For five minutes quiet would be 
nice. Don was trying to read Dickens and was not 
getting very far at all. 


“I hate Korn—and now I am talking to myself.” 


Last year, through a lot of help from April, Don had 
managed to enroll himself in On-line Classes through a 
local university. It was expensive, but that is where 
Don had decided to use his share of the money. This 
was his second “semester” of it and he was actually 
quite proud of his accomplishment. Although Don 
excelled at many things, even he was having trouble 
understanding Tale of Two Cities because of the out 
dated English….and Freak on a Leash wasn’t helping 
much. Throwing down the book, Don got up to confront 
Raphael about the situation. It was at that time that 
Mike strolled in the door. 

“Good Morning”

 “It’s noon.” 

“Oh, Yep, Guess you’re right… Good Afternoon.”


With that said, Mike walked into the kitchen and 
started to rummage in the cabinets. 


“All Right! Wonton! I am living large.”

 Leonardo emerged out of his room and stumbled into 
the kitchen. He looked as though he had been taking a 
nap. That’s not really like Leo. Don was amazed that 
Leo could even attempt to sleep through Raph’s music. 
Leo yawned, then stopped and listened. He threw a 
dirty look in the direction of the music. 


“How long has that been going on?” 

“Dunno… Since about chapter 3 in my book.” 

“Oh.” 

Leonardo seemed to decide that he didn’t want to 
bother to stop the disturbance, and turned his 
attention to Mike. 


“Where were you this morning?” 

“Stayed over at April and O’s” 

“Oh….Mike what are you doing?” 

Mike turned his eyes off the water he was boiling 
looked at Leo, and lowered them back to the pot. 

“Ummm…boiling water for wonton.” 

“No…I mean with Oyu….oh never mind. I’ve got my own 
problems without having to know about yours.” 

With that Leo went back to his room. 

“Ooookay. He’s acting normal.”

 Don took a sniff of the coffee he was making. 

"I’m worried about him. He’s starting to act…I don’t 
know…weird.” 

“Leo…weird…no way!!” 

“I’m serious Mike!” 

“Sorry, sorry….I haven’t noticed anything major 
different in Leo.” 

“You haven’t been here!” 

It sounded a little harsher than Don had wished, and 
Mike stopped, mouth open and spoon about 2 inches away 
from it. 

“I’ve been busy!!” 

“Yeah…out doing whatever you please. You’re making 
Raph look like Mr. Perfect Attendance during 
practice.” 

Mike wrinkled his nose and directed his attention back 
to the soup. 

“Whatever.” 

“Yeah, whatever, that’s the opinion you take on 
everything nowadays.” 

“What?” 

“You heard me.” 

Don nonchalantly stirred in the last of the milk into 
his coffee. 

“Shut up! You don’t know what you are talking about!” 

“I know what I see. You don’t seem to care about 
anybody else other than yourself anymore.”

 “Where are you pulling this out of! What’s up with 
this? All I want is to eat my Wonton in peace, but no 
I have to listen to some lecture.” 


“Exactly…You have to listen to some lecture…messes up 
with you getting to eat your wonton. You have become 
completely self absorbed.” 


“Well thank you Mr. Self Help Manual. Hey if I admit 
that I am a little self absorbed, which everybody 
needs to be, does that make me less self absorbed?” 

Mike gave a little fake smirk, threw his bowl in the 
sink, and left the room. 


“Where are you going?” 

"Bed. I don’t have to listen to this.” 


Don shook his head. He was going to have to read in 
the living room now. He didn’t want to have to go into 
round two of that…discussion. It’s not fair, Raph and 
Leo get their own rooms…Ugh. Now I’m whining to 
myself… 


6:00 


Raph had walked in to watch TV at about 3:00 and at 
that point Don gave up on Dickens. He watched Jenny 
Jones with Raph. 


“Man, all those kids need is someone to set them 
straight!” 


Don hid a smile at the thought of Raph as Dr. Spock. 
But half way into “I can’t control my troubled teen!” 
Don got up. He was bored. He hated bored. That’s why 
he always found something to work on. He walked into 
his room quietly because Mike was still asleep. “Fruit 
Cakes” by Jimmy Buffett was playing on repeat softly 
on the CD player on Mike’s bed. The blanket had fallen 
almost completely off the bed, but Mike was oblivious, 
arms wrapped around the pillow and snoring softly. Don 
picked up the blanket and draped it over Mike, before sneaking back out. Don hated arguing. It was something 
he rarely did. Live and let live. It took a lot to get 
him really up and off about something. But lately…
lately, there had been something that had been gnawing 
at Don, even if he couldn’t put his finger on what it 
was. All he knew is that it somehow was effecting his 
family, and he didn’t like that at all. 


“Knock, Knock…” 


“Come in.” 


“Ha..Leo you are supposed to say ‘who’s there’.” 


“Well it wasn’t that hard to figure out, Don. Mike 
still out?” 

“Like a light.” 

“Oh, he must have gotten no sleep at all last night.” 


“Yeah, probably.”

 Leo decided to change the subject. “So what should I 
listen to as I try to clean my room?”


 Don had to scoff at that. Leo’s room was emaculant 
compared to his and Mike’s. “Let’s see…” Leo peered 
down into a crate. “I got Simon and Garfunkel, umm 
Skynard, the Byrds, Anthology…: Leo dug deeper into 
the crate. 


“You do realize this is the 90’s?’ 


“Yeah, but music’s been around for like ever and I 
just choose to listen to the choice best.” Leo looked 
up with a sly smile. At least he looked “up and 
chipper” and not tired. Deciding on the Byrds, Mr. 
Tambourine Man began to play. Leo began straightening 
up little things, those were the only things that were 
even close to cluttered as far as Don could tell. 


“Umm…Leo?” “Are you…like…OK?” Leo looked up, a little 
confused. 


“Um, yeah why?” 


“You just seem, I don’t know out of it for you. Tired 
and stuff.” 


“Oh.” Leo went back to the task of nit-picking at 
things in his room.” 


“Leo?” 


Leo looked up for a second and then averted eye 
contact, moving his jaw around nervously. “Ok….Donny. 
I have a secret. Not a big one just a little one. No 
big deal actually at all.” Don didn’t say anything, he 
just watched Leo and waited for an answer. “Well…I 
kinda went and got a job.” 


“What!!??” 


“No, no, I’m just helping Chu out in the mornings 
before the restaurant opens. Nothing Major. I’m not 
the new Calvin Klein Underwear Model or anything.” 

“Oh. So why all the secrecy?” 


“I wasn’t sure if Splinter would approve. And I didn’t 
want to even begin to hear the stuff I would get from 
Raph and Mike about ‘Leo chopping Celery at 5 am for a 
living’. I don’t know, I guess I didn’t want to start 
something.” 


“So why do it?” 


“Because I am tired of having to rely on other people 
for stuff. This helps a lot.” 


“So, where’s the cash?”


 Leo sighed. “I feel like I am on ’20 questions’”. He 
picked up his Doors CD case and opened it up. “Here.” 
A small wad of cash was on top of the CD. 


“Wow. Leo you are rich, bro” 


“Heh, no. But it will buy groceries.” 


“So that’s where you go in the mornings?”


 “Yep.” 


“So is that why you were taking a nap today?” 


“Don!” 


“Sorry, no more questions, promise. I just feel like 
something isn’t right.” Leo looked up and set down the 
pile of things he was cleaning. 


“Yeah, I thought that for a while, too. But then I 
realized something, Don. We’re Growing up. Things are 
changing. And sometimes change doesn’t feel right just 
because it’s different, not because there’s something 
wrong with it. That make any sense?” 


“Yeah, I guess.” “I don’t think anything’s wrong. Not 
with Mike. Not with me having a job. It’s all going to 
be OK.” 


“Yeah. I think I will try to go back to my book now.” 


“OK.” Leo grinned. “Don’t let Raph’s music bother your 
studying.


 Don returned the grin. “That bother me, never.” 

 

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